he felt they were renegades of the united states. legally in his mind this was an insurrection against the federal government has much against american law as for instance the whiskey rebellion was under george washington. that was both in terms of framing the problem and legally dealing with it. that is why he did it that way. the other question about nixon's presidential power from the beginning of this time in congress nixon was in favor of presidents having a lot of authority particularly in foreign policy. one thing he and eisenhower had to deal with in 1953 was something called a proposed amendment, senator john brinker was suggesting an amendment to the constitution that would have hugely restricted the president's ability to include treaties and that was something eisenhower and nixon spent a lot of time on. this was the theme that runs through american history. >> host: dean alyson's wes in do we need to evaluate wartime presidents less severely than non wartime presidents? >> guest: i don't. if anything more severely becaus